In the city of Thargood, amidst the bustling coastline markets and towering cathedrals, lives Lodrick Marchal, the renowned yet mysterious mage. His features, as striking as they are, betray nothing of the savage beneath. Towering at a height that dwarfs many, his deep-set eyes, like twin sapphire orbs, possess an intensity that unsettles the average person. With skin kissed by the sun and an unbroken silence surrounding him, it becomes an impossible task to perceive his true intentions.
The Marchal family is an old bloodline, established in time immemorial. They were merchants at first before rising in power and wealth. Lodrick, the sole child of this noble lineage, was to inherit the family's twilight-hued mansion and the wealth that came along. Yet early in his youth, something stirred inside him that set him apart from the sea of blue-blooded nobles.
As a boy, Lodrick found companionship in a childhood friend, Arlen Sarn. Their bond was strong, pure-hearted, wrought out of innocent escapades and shared laughter. A single girl's disappearance marked the rupture in their friendship. Unbeknownst to Arlen, Lodrick had begun experimentation with the darkest arts of magic, ultimately leading him down a perilous path.
As his knowledge of magic grew, so did his ambition, insatiable and all-consuming. The Crimson Academy of Magic and Arts was not sufficient for his incessant thirst. So, he parted ways, parting with his once cherished friend Arlen, turning to the forbidden scripts buried deep within the archives. The tendrils of his ambition found solace in the Blood Magic's dark existence, a means to attain his much-desired immortality.
As years passed, marriage found no place in Lodrick's existence. His heart held no room for love, only a ruthless pursuit of eternal life. Many admired him for his charm, yet his heart remained untouched, plagued by the images of faces that ceased to exist because of him.
His pursuit has turned him into Thargood's most influential slave trader. Innocent lives are bought, enslaved, and cruelly snuffed for the greater good of his dark ambitions. A gruesome secret that remains locked behind his towering abode's stone walls.
With his ruthless pursuit comes a set routine. The marketplace, abuzz with life during the day, transforms into a grim auction house under the moon's ghostly sheen. Here, Lodrick conducts his gruesome trade, masked by the darkness. He ends his days engrossed in the forbidden texts, saturated with his victims' innocent cries reverberating in his ears.
A golden amulet graces his neck, an emblem of the Marchal lineage, worn always, even during his obscure ceremonies. Despite his fearless pursuit, one thing keeps him up at night. The memory of his loyal friend, Arlen. Perhaps it's guilt or fear of betrayal, Lodrick does well to hide it underneath his apparent insanity.
With the passing of each day, Lodrick marches onto a treacherous path, leaving a crimson trail in his wake. Haunted by his goals, he is perpetually on the edge, pushing himself into the realms of perilous magic to beat death. But with every lifebane spell he casts, his health deteriorates as the magic exacts its vengeance. Though he may fool the world with his vibrant facade, the weakness gnawing within him is his lone reminder of mortality.
As Lodrick Marchal continues his pursuit of immortality, his ethos takes a somber turn. His life is no longer his own, consumed by an ambition that threatens to devour him alive. Perhaps, in his pursuit to conquer death, he has forgotten how to live.